The Price We Pay
by corikane
Summary: Those who have made it back to Storybrooke try to deal with the aftermath of their latest adventure. Emma gets help from an unexpected source, David is not so lucky. (No copyright infringement intended.)


**A/N: I wrote this without having watched yesterday's episode (_Think Lovely Thoughts_), so I don't know what happened in it. Somehow I think, my versio is less child-friendly... I hope it's not too gruesome or angsty, though.**

* * *

The first time she came fully awake, the room was too bright, the ground too soft. She didn't know where she was but that there was a voice she knew and it whispered:

"Lie still, Emma. It's gonna be okay. Henry is alive, he's okay." That was all she needed to hear, that her son was saved and healthy. She fell back asleep to the throbbing in her leg, a hand on her shoulder, another caressing her face.

When she woke next, she was sure it had been her mother. Who else would take such good care of her, who else would touch her face so lovingly?

"Mom?" she whispered into the dark.

"You're safe, Emma. Here, drink this," the voice instructed her, helping her lift her head so that she could drink… water. And water had never tasted this sweet and she had never felt this warm and protected. There was a smell lingering in the air, the softest hint of a perfume, it was a rich, luscious smell. Emma closed her eyes to breathe it in deeply and fell back to sleep.

She woke again to an acute pain in her right leg. She groaned and a moment later she was by her side.

"It will be all right, Emma. Here, drink this. It will lessen the pain," the voice said and somewhere in her pain-cleared mind Emma was aware that it wasn't her mother taking care of her. A straw was put to her lips and she pulled eagerly. It wasn't water; by the tangy taste of it it had to be some kind of medicine.

"Easy, don't take too much," the voice adviced, pulling the cup away carefully.

Emma tried to clear her vision, she wanted to see, to know this person, even though she had an inkling that she already did. The voice was too familiar, the sheer presence of her too close to be strange.

"Don't strain yourself, go back to sleep," the voice said. A hand lay itself over Emma's eyes and she closed them, falling instantly back to sleep.

She awoke to the voices of two people and one of them made her heart stutter in her chest.

"You can go to her, she'll be alright," the voice of her caretaker said.

"What about her leg?"

"Henry!" Emma wanted to shout but merely whispered.

"Mom, it's okay. I'm here," she heard him say and then the bed on her left sagged with his weight.

She opened her eyes and saw her son, fuzzy edged but alive and well.

"Her leg is healing, Henry," the other voice informed him, a tinge of pride in it. The person stood behind Henry and Emma suddenly knew who it was because there was a link between these two.

"Regina?" Emma asked and the dark-haired woman crouched beside Henry, entering Emma's vision.

"I'm here, it's okay," she said soothingly, laying a hand on her arm.

"Where is everybody? My parents? Neal? Hook?" Emma asked. For the first time awake, she seemed to remember things but it was a blur in which everybody seemed to get lost on an island with Pan lurking in every shadow.

She noticed how Regina took her arm away.

"Snow is with your father at the hospital. He was injured but she had stopped by and asked after you…"

"Mom threw her out. If it wasn't for mom, you wouldn't have both your legs, Whale would have cut…"

"Henry," Regina said quieting the youngster.

"My legs?" Emma reacted panicky feeling for both of them. They were there, one of it uncomfortably bandaged but intact.

"Nobody took your legs, Emma," Regina assured her and the blonde lay back, calmer, until she remembered what Regina had said about David.

"David? Is he… will he be all right?"

"Yes, ultimately he will be but… his injury was severe. Whale had to amputate his left arm," Regina told her.

"Oh God," Emma moaned. Tears filled her eyes. "You threw my mom out?" she then registered another thing Henry had said.

"You know how we're not on the best of terms, that hasn't changed," the dark-haired woman said mockingly but Emma detected something underneath. But she didn't feel up to investigating what that something might be. Her mind jumped between things that had been said, Henry's face, smiling, Regina's dark eyes who seemed worried, and memories of when she woke earlier… a hand caressing her face, two arms holding her as writhed in pain… her eyes fell closed, heavy with confusion.

"We should let her sleep, Henry," she heard Regina say through the fog of sleep that already tried to engulf her again.

"I'm gonna stay here. You should get some rest. You have hardly slept since you brought her here," Henry answered and then Emma fell asleep.

The voices that registered next with Emma were raised ones from the hall outside her door.

"I have a right to see my daughter, Regina." It wasn't difficult to guess who had said it, her mother had come back.

"She's asleep, Snow. She needs her rest. Her body is working overtime at healing her leg, and it will. But she needs a lot of sleep, and no additional worries," Regina answered Mary-Margaret. She, at least, tried to keep her voice low but she hissed at the other woman. For a moment it struck Emma as funny that these two should be fighting over the right to care for her but then she remembered all the pain this feud had already caused. It wasn't funny at all.

"Regina," Emma said or wanted to. Again, it merely came out as a whisper. She cleared her voice. "Regina," she tried again and her voice seemed to carry at least a little. The door opened.

"Emma?" It was her mother, her voice soft and caring now. "She's awake," she informed the woman standing behind her.

"Not too long, Snow. And try not to… worry her too much." There was some urgency in her voice that Emma didn't quite understand. Had her father gotten worse?

Mary-Margaret stepped into the room, smiling sadly at her daughter.

"Is dad alright?" Emma asked.

"Oh, yes, honey. He'll be okay. Did… did she tell you that Dr. Whale had to… amputate…?" But there the tears started flowing and Mary-Margaret simply sat down on Emma's bed and cried. The blonde reached out her hand to her and the dark-haired woman took it.

"Henry was here, he told me," Emma said. She was tired of the way her mother was talking about Regina, she only needed to say 'she' or her name and there was venom in her voice. "But he'll be okay? He'll live?"

Mary-Margaret nodded, smiling a little through her tears.

"That's good," Emma said. She looked over at the nightstand where a glass of water stood, she was thirsty. She tried to reach over but her mother beat her to it, helping her drink. It was just water, no medicine this time.

"Is Regina taking good care of you, Emma? I would have been here but your father…"

"Regina does everything she can for me, mom. And Henry, he helps," she added.

"He's a good boy."

"That's how she raised him," Emma simply said.

"I think his heritage may have a little more to do with that," Mary-Margaret gave back.

"Stop it, mom. She's a good mother. I don't care what else she is, she raised Henry. And she saved my leg." It took Mary-Margaret a while but she nodded after a moment.

"She used magic," she then said.

"I figured," Emma answered. "I don't remember seeing Gold here, did he help?" She hadn't even thought about him but she also hadn't worried about him because he always seemed to come out on top of things. She was pretty sure that he was back in his shop, back with Belle, probably spending time with Neal.

Emma noticed that her mother didn't answer her, she looked up. Mary-Margaret's face looked worried.

"What is it?"

"We don't know if he made it… Gold. And we don't know about Hook, either," she said.

"They're dead?" Emma asked.

"We don't know," her mother answered. "They could still be on the island, or… maybe they're somewhere else." She indicated vaguely.

"Another land? The Enchanted Forrest, maybe?" This time, Mary-Margaret merely shrugged her shoulders.

"What about Neal?"

Again, there was no answer but as Emma was now looking at her mother she could see her reaction immediately, it fell like a dark veil over Mary-Margaret's face. Emma's eyes filled with tears instantly, her chest constricting, unable to breathe properly.

"He's dead," her voice came out as a pained screech. She pulled her arms to her chest and tried to roll onto her side but her injured leg wouldn't let her, it protested in pain and she cried out. She registered vaguely that the door opened a second later, Regina's worried but also angry face appearing at her mother's side, pulling her off the bed. There were hands on her chest but she tried to fight them off, she didn't want anyone taking care of her anymore. She needed to go back... to save Henry's father.

A fog rose around her. She breathed it in, it tasted sour and for a second Emma thought she would be sick. But then she didn't... anything anymore. Everything went black and weightless.

* * *

"Emma?" This time Emma recognized the voice instantly as Regina's. It sounded tired but still soft and caring.

The blonde opened her eyes to a splitting headache and closed them again.

"Here, take this. It's for the headache," Regina tried to give her a pill but Emma's hand came up and took it from her.

"I can do it," she said and put the pill in her mouth. Aspirin. Regina took her hand and put a cup in it and she drank from it.

Then she lay back, waited for the pain to cease before she tried to open her eyes again. It seemed to work, even though the pain wasn't gone completely.

"How're you feeling?"

And in the same instant Emma suddenly felt very sick, then empty and sad. And she knew again, that Neal was dead.

"Neal?" she croaked.

"I'm sorry, Emma," Regina said, her voice tinged with pain. But Emma knew it couldn't be over Henry's father, they hardly knew each other.

"Why would you be?" she asked sharply.

There was no answer but when Emma looked up at Regina she saw that she'd hurt the other woman. Then Regina looked away.

"You didn't even know Neal," Emma mused, her voice softer now.

"He was Henry's father. He's mourning," the dark-haired woman informed Emma.

"Where is he?"

"He's asleep, it's late." Emma nodded. Her inner clock was out of tune but the drawn curtains and the light from the bedside-lamp were good indicators. She wondered how long they'd been back.

"How long?" she asked and Regina's gaze became questioning before it cleared.

"We've been back for twenty days," she answered.

"Twenty days? Almost three weeks? But...," it was hard to believe. Her mind told her that only days had gone by since they had planned their escape, but weeks?

"You were asleep for most of the time. Your leg needed to heal and you also had a concussion."

"What happened?" Emma asked and the question was so vague because she tried to remember everything at once now but couldn't. She wanted to remember their escape but her mind only threw blank pages back at her, there was nothing.

"You'll remember but not right now," Regina said soothingly, one of her hands reached out to touch her arm but she seemed to think better of it and lay it back on the covers. Emma looked at it then up into Regina's eyes. They seemed apologetic.

"Did you drug me?"

"I gave you something for the pain and so you could sleep. The memory loss comes from the concussion, Dr. Whale thinks it's temporary."

"Was he here? I don't remember seeing him?"

"No, we... we brought you to the hospital when we first arrived. Whale looked you over and...," she stopped herself.

"He decided to cut off my leg and you stopped him?" Emma surmised from what Henry had told her the other day. Regina nodded.

"Henry asked me to," she explained. "I couldn't do anything about David's arm. Half of it was... already gone," she whispered that last part.

"I'm sure you did the best you could, for all of us," Emma said and Regina looked up at her. She seemed surprised.

"I couldn't save everyone," she said in a small voice, the same pained voice from earlier.

"But you tried," Emma said, tears flooding her eyes as she once again thought of Neal. Could Regina have saved him? Could she herself have saved him? Did she try? But she couldn't remember.

"I did try," Regina said, her own eyes swimming in tears.

Emma reached up and lay a hand on Regina's cheek, it was warm and soft. For the first time, Emma really concentrated on Regina's face, she saw fatigue there, worry, stress. She looked worn out but somehow still frantic to save someone. And Emma realized that this someone was her.

"I'll be okay," she said to assure the other woman. "You saved me."

Regina closed her eyes, the tears finally falling. But only a couple, then the dark-haired woman shook her head slightly, took Emma's hand from her cheek and lay it back on the bedcovers.

"You should get some more rest. Tomorrow I would like for you to eat something. We need to build up your strength," she said in the voice of a nurse, somehow strict but still caring.

"I'll sleep if you sleep," Emma answered. Regina looked at her in surprise.

"I need to take care of a few things," she said vaguely but Emma shook her head.

"You need to sleep. You have to take care of Henry and... and I guess I will need your caretaking skills for some time yet so..." Regina smiled a small smile.

"I will sleep if you sleep," she answered with Emma's earlier words and the blonde closed her eyes immediately.

"I never would have thought you'd be so obedient," the dark-haired woman murmured.

"Don't push it, Regina," Emma warned, her eyes still closed. She heard a slight laugh coming from the other woman, then the light switch of her bedside lamp. The world beyond her eyelids went dark and she fell asleep before Regina closed the door to her room.

* * *

Things got clearer for Emma over the next few days and her inner clock adjusted to day and nighttime again. Regina woke her in the morning and Henry visited for a spell before going to school. She would still sleep a lot but not so long that she would miss a whole day or more. Regina tried to feed her soup that first day but Emma would absolutely refuse to cooperate with being fed. When she tried to eat by herself, however, she spilled the hot soup on the covers and even some on herself and things got even more embarrassing. From being fed to being washed... Emma was not happy about it, neither was Regina.

They both had to leave some of their pride behind the next few days as Emma became painfully aware just how many things Regina did for her and helped her with. Regina had done these things without even thinking about it before but with Emma awake, things grew a little more tense, awkward. The mayor thought of getting a nurse from the hospital but didn't want to give the blonde the impression that she was becoming a burden. Emma was sensitive enough as it was, she became also restless, complaining that she felt useless. Then there was the pain and her stubbornly refusing to take anything for it until it grew so bad that Regina could see the strain in her whole body, sweat glistening on the sheriff's skin.

With everything that happened between them, though, Regina never ceased to be caring, her voice never raised, her hands never harsh or abrupt. And Emma never raised her voice in anger, only in pain, and she always made sure to let Regina know that she appreciated everything the other woman did for her.

Mary-Margaret came by most mornings after Henry had left for school on her way to the hospital. There were a lot of other people who dropped by to bring flowers or get-well-soon cards but Regina refused to let anyone up to Emma's room. She said she didn't want all the dwarfs tracking dirt into her house at all hours but Emma was sure Regina did it for her, so that she wouldn't get tired out by everyone visiting and asking question. They hadn't talked about what had happened on the island yet. While she had at first tried to remember, it now became much harder not to remember. Emma had bad dreams about Neverland and Pan.

Sometimes she woke after such a dream to find Regina leaning over her, her thumb rubbing soothing circles over her forehead. or she would sit by her side, holding her hand, whispering to her until she fell back to sleep. They never talked about these nights, though Emma tried to after the first time it happened. Regina told her that she had probably just dreamed it and Emma didn't argue over it, even though she knew better.

Another ten days passed in this fashion, making it a whole month for Emma to lie on her back. She had by then seen the injury her leg had suffered and was glad she hadn't seen it earlier. She couldn't quite fathom how Regina had saved it but it seemed a miracle that she could. Regina explained that it was as much her magic as it was Emma's and the blonde was sure Regina gave her more credit than she deserved. But this was how Regina wanted it. She didn't want any thanks, she simply wanted Emma to work on getting better. And with time Emma did and they both knew that she would leave soon.

* * *

Emma had another nightmare. They seemed to be the most lasting effect of their time in Neverland. She woke with a start and was instantly aware of the other presence in the room, the woman who was standing by the bed.

"It's alright, Emma. It was just a dream," her voice came to her in a whisper. "Go back to sleep," it instructed and normally Emma would have obeyed. But this dream had been horrible, more horrible than she cared to remember yet she did. She had dreamed of Neal's death, not for the first time, but this time more vivid than ever before. She remembered it now fully, and she couldn't help but blame herself for it. She had lost sight of Pan for just a second, unable to constrain him... and he had lashed out... and Neal fell dead to the ground, blood everywhere.

"No," Emma struggled to sit upright and once again, as so many nights before, there were two hands trying to soothe her, to calm her back to sleep. But she couldn't, not tonight. She had to talk about what had happened.

"It was my fault," she said and was met with dead silence. Then:

"No, it wasn't. Neal made his choice and he saved Henry. Don't take that away from him. He died a hero, Emma," Regina said. Her left hand held Emma's, her right caressed her face, her hair. Emma cried, she couldn't argue with Regina's words but she still felt guilty.

"Hold me," she croaked. "Please, hold me." And Regina merely changed her position on the bed and pulled Emma into her arms as if she had done this any other night before. Emma seemed to remember that there had been nights like this, she remembered the feel of Regina's strong arms around her, the comfort they gave, the protection. And she clung to the other woman, crying, calling out to her, for her, for Henry, for Neal, for her parents. But there was only Regina, holding her, letting her cry.

Emma had no sense of how long it took her to calm down but the steady whisper of Regina's voice against her own pain soothed her. Her tears still fell but in silence and her arms pulled Regina's tigher around herself, like a warm blanket.

"A great savior I am," she said bitterly.

"Shhh... Savior is only a title, Emma, a title others gave you. You don't have to keep it," the voice behind her said.

"Like evil queen is just a title?"

Regina laughed sarcastically.

"That one I deserved," she reminded the blonde.

"Things could have been different for you," Emma argued.

"If I've never met your mother," Regina agreed.

Emma lifted her head and turned to look at the other woman. She could see that Regina had cried, too, there were tracks on her cheeks and she seemed to become aware of them as Emma looked at her. She turned her head away.

"Regina?"

"You should go to sleep," the other woman tried to extricate herself from Emma but the blonde held onto her hands.

"Talk to me," she pleaded and Regina relaxed, not wanting to cause her patient any pain by fighting her. "It wasn't all my mother's fault," Emma said.

"Then it must have been mine, as always," Regina gave back bitterly.

"That's not what I'm saying. But she was only a kid..."

"I was hardly more than a child myself, Emma. 17."

"I'm sorry. I really am sorry, Regina. But... you and my mother started a war back then, a war that has gone on for far too long, with far too many dead...," she couldn't even talk about the 'casualties' this war had taken. Neal was one of them, and the tears over his death hadn't dried up yet.

"Your mother betrayed me," Regina tried to reason.

"Yes, and she paid for it. As have you. You have lost so many, both of you, now all of us. Isn't it time to end this? Before Henry..."

"No, I would never let that happen!" Regina said, her voice loud in the quiet room, in the quiet night around them.

"Neither would I, not for the world but... it seems to me we can't always protect the ones we love. If anything should happen to Henry...," she didn't need to continue, she saw that she had gotten through to Regina.

"I can't forgive her, Emma, that's too much to ask."

"I know but... can't you at least make some kind of truce? Something permanent until... maybe we'll find a way back to the Enchanted Forrest and... I don't know if you wanna go back or my parents but... there should be enough realms so that you would never have to see each other again. A truce for Henry?" Emma looked at Regina pleadingly and the dark-haired woman thought about it for a long moment. Then she nodded.

"I will try, Emma... for Henry," she promised. Emma smiled. It almost felt strange on her face, after all the pain of the last few weeks to feel that she could still smile. She closed her eyes for a moment.

"Where would you go?" Emma asked after awhile. She opened her eyes and looked into questioning dark ones. "If we find another way to travel between realms, where would you want to live?"

"Everywhere but here they call me the evil queen so..."

"You would stay here?"

"Here's where Henry is, right?" Emma nodded. Visiting the Enchanted Forrest and Neverland hadn't done anything to make her want to live in either place. The Happy Ending seemed to come at a price there. Maybe it was better not to have one. "You're not thinking of leaving?" Regina asked her.

"No. Life here isn't too bad. We at least have hot showers and fast food... I think my parents want to go back but I'm not prepared to play princess. And who knows what other dark force will haunt everyone when you're not there. There always seems to be something, right?"

Regina nodded.

"I didn't mean to insult you," Emma said quickly.

"No, I was... I was thinking of my mother. She was a force to be reckoned with. I never was quite as classy as she was."

"That's one way to look at it." Regina smiled a little.

"Evil isn't born, Emma, it's made. I think if our last adventure taught us anything it's that Pan wasn't born evil, he was abandoned, he became lost. A lost boy."

"Well, I was a lost girl and I didn't turn evil," Emma argued.

"Not everyone is as strong as you are, Emma," Regina said. She then disentangled herself from the other woman, pushing the blonde back into the pillows. "Now get some sleep. You'll need your strength tomorrow. I'll remove the bandage from your leg and we'll see if you can stand on it, maybe take a few steps."

Emma didn't argue, she was still a little stunned by the compliment Regina had paid her. She let the other woman tuck her under the blanket properly and then closed her eyes. Sleep came easy and without any nightmares this time.

* * *

Regina walked into David's room like she walked everywhere in Storybrooke, like it belonged to her. And while David payed little attention to her - he paid little attention to anything these days - Mary-Margaret's ire rose immediately.

"What do you want here?"

"I came to talk to you," Regina said in a level voice. She forced it to be so but she could feel the grip on her temper slip as she looked at Snow, her tortured posture, the 'i-have-suffered'-whine in her voice. Well, they had all suffered and if Snow wanted it to end, she would form that truce Emma had asked for. Regina only wished it was already done.

"David needs his rest. I want you to leave us alone," Snow said.

"I came here to talk to you, Snow, not to David. We can do that outside," she suggested, though it came out more as a command. It was the tone of voice she took with Snow and she couldn't seem to fight it.

"My husband is sick, I won't leave him," Snow gave back.

Regina closed her eyes, wondering whether this was all worth it. Flashes of the alternative rushed through her mind. How she could just end it here and now, throwing fire-balls and curses and see them burn... but no, that wasn't the answer. That would just bring on more fighting... with the woman who lay injured in her guest bedroom.

"Please," she heard herself say. "I promised Emma I would talk to you."

"Emma? Is she alright? You said she was doing better," her voice suddenly worried.

"She is doing better. This is not about her, this is about... us. Our... war with each other," Regina said. They looked at each other for a long moment. Then Snow turned toward David who had his face turned to the wall, away from Snow and toward his one remaining arm.

"I'll be right back," Snow told him and kissed his cheek. He didn't acknowledge her.

Snow followed Regina out of the room to the waiting area. It was empty for a change.

"He isn't talking?" Regina asked after David.

"No, and I want to get back to him in case that he does, so..." Regina nodded.

"Emma wants us to form a truce, Snow. She wants us to stop fighting and instead focus our energy to find a way back to the Enchanted Forrest."

"Emma wants that?" Snow asked.

"Well, she thinks that our war has... cost us all enough. And I agree. I lost... I have killed my parents over this, you have lost yours. There were others..."

"You killed my father, Regina, you killed so many people..." Snow said.

"Yes, I did. And you made me kill my mother. And if it wasn't for you, Daniel... Dammit Snow, hasn't there been enough suffering? Do you want to continue this?" Regina lost her temper after all. She yelled at the other woman.

"I haven't started this?" Snow gave back.

"But don't you want to finish it?"

"You need to pay," Snow said frowning at the other woman.

"I have paid, Snow. We all have paid and the price was too high," Regina reasoned. "For now, can't we agree that Neal should be the last casualty of this war between us? Can't we at least agree on that?" She looked at Snow, her eyes pleading for an end. She was tired of it all. Revenge wasn't a goal fighting for anymore. Nothing mattered more to her now than her son's safety and having him grow up between her and Snow was far from safe.

"You're right, or rather, Emma is right," Snow said. "We'll find a way back home. David wanted to go back and that's what we're gonna do." She nodded.

"A truce." Regina held out her hand to Snow who took it hesitantly.

"A truce," she agreed. They shook on it then pulled back again, not quite trusting each other.

"Good. I... Emma asked after her father, whether he'll be leaving here soon," Regina said.

"He could if... well, Dr. Whale says that he could leave anytime but David hasn't talked to anyone since... the amputation. He just lies there."

"Emma isn't quite well enough to visit yet but... do you think, Henry could come by and say hello? Do you think it would help?" The older woman suggested.

"I think it might," Snow said, her voice barely a whisper.

"All right, I'll bring him by when he's finished his homework today."

Snow nodded.

"Thank you," she then said slowly, her voice still low.

"I'll have to get back to... home."

"Would you... how is Emma?"

"She's doing better. I think she's ready for some physical therapy. I was going to ask Dr. Whale if he can spare a nurse to help her with it."

"I could do it," Snow said quickly.

"No offence, Snow, but I think we should have someone qualified do the job."

"So you have been qualified to nurse her all these weeks? What medical school did you go to again?" It didn't surprise either woman that they were back to arguing. A truce was a fragile thing, they shouldn't have been tempting their patience.

"I healed her with magic, Snow. There's no medical school who can teach you that. But as we all know, magic comes at a price and I don't want to have Emma pay with anymore of her health. She is weak as it is," Regina said in a more reasonable voice. Snow nodded.

"I'm sure you're doing everything you can for her," she said and it pained her visibly.

"Well, I'll just talk to Dr. Whale then. I'll see you later when I bring Henry."

"All right, I'll see you," Snow answered. She left Regina who shook her head. They had yet a long way to go if they wanted this truce-thing to work. Regina wondered how long it would last and who would be the one to break it. She hoped that it wouldn't be her.

* * *

Regina barely ever visited her now that Gwen was her nurse. She only came into the room about once every day and asked if Emma needed anything, usually when the chipper redhead was there, too. There was nothing wrong with Gwen, the nurse. She was nice, she was attentive, she was encouraging but Emma was an impatient patient. Some of this impatience stemmed from the fact that Regina seemed to have abandoned her which was the more infuriating as it was not true. Regina had put her life on hold to care for Emma for a whole month and now she was paying someone to care for her and help her recover from her injury - Regina was doing everything she could for Emma, everything but spending time with her.

It wasn't difficult to deduce when or why she had stopped. Emma thought often of the night she had cried so desperately in Regina's arms. It had seemed so natural at the time but Emma thought back at it now with embarrassment. How could she not? She had cried like a baby, and it must have been awkward for Regina as well, why else would she have gotten a professional to take care of her just the day after? It made Emma restless to think of this yet she couldn't stop. She couldn't stop obsessing over the fact that she hardly ever saw Regina and that when the mayor came into her room, she seemed cold... like the woman she had met over two years ago. Not like the woman who had saved her leg, held her, protected her.

Meanwhile, Emma's leg healed, the nightmares came less frequently, the pain went with the worst of them and she prepared herself mentally to leave the mansion in another week or two. She wasn't sure where she would go. David had by now come home, he talked very little, he struggled with the loss of his arm. Her mother struggled with David's withdrawal. It wasn't really a living arrangement Emma wanted to participate in, especially since it seemed like Henry would stay with Regina for the time being. But where else could Emma go? Maybe she could rent a room from Granny? But that was a temporary solution at best.

Emma heard footsteps in the hall and since Gwen hadn't closed the door properly when she'd left for the day, Emma could see Regina walk by a moment later. She reacted instantly:

"Regina?" She called out to the older woman who stopped and looked into her room.

"Was there something you needed Emma?"

"Yes, would you come in for a minute?" Regina stiffened slightly, she pulled her shoulders back and pulled her lips into a fake smile. But she entered.

"What can I get you? Some hot chocolate maybe? With cinnamon, right?"

"No, I don't want any chocolate. Would you sit down? I want to talk to you about something."

"I'm really busy, Ms. Swan," Regina said and they both seemed to flinch at the formal adress the dark-haired woman used.

"Please," Emma asked. She watched as Regina looked back at the door to her room as if contemplating an escape. Then she looked back at her, smiling bravely.

"It won't take long, right?"

"No, it won't take long," Emma promised and Regina sat down in a chair by the bed, not on the bed as she had done in the weeks she had cared for her. "How are things in Storybrooke?" Emma asked after a moment. It seemed a stupid question but she hadn't prepared for this conversation, she had only felt that she wanted to have it. Any kind of conversation with her absentee hostess.

"Things are... not great as you can imagine. We don't have a sheriff. The dwarfs are pitching in with very varying results. I hate to say this but you're sorely missed in your former position. The library hasn't opened yet, Ms. French spends all her time in Mr. Gold's shop... trying to find a way to somehow conjure him there, I imagine. Granny is moody, as usual. What else do you want to know?" Regina smiled that fake smile again, though she seemed to have forgotten to be cool and aloof for just a moment when she talked about Belle and Gold.

"How are you?" Emma asked.

"I'm... overworked," Regina answered with the same smile but Emma leaned forward and took one of her hands, looking intently into her eyes. "I... don't know what to do," Regina finally gave in to the pleading in those green eyes. "Everyone knows... some version of what happened on Neverland. They miss your parents' guidance, they even miss Rumple to help them out with some spell or another. They see Belle wandering aimlessly through town and that's what they all seem to do. And, of course, they look at me suspiciously because... well, I seem to be the only one who's come back without some kind of injury or... I haven't lost anyone on that island," she said.

"They're just trying to cope," Emma tried to defend everyone.

"Nobody's coping Emma. Least of all your father."

"He's lost his arm."

"Yes but at least he's alive. And he still got his family," Regina said. Emma nodded.

"Maybe someone should remind him of that," she sat, looking at Regina meaningfully. The dark-haired woman barked a short unamused laugh.

"Like your mother would let me near him," she said.

"You could bring Henry over and he could divert Snow's attention," Emma suggested.

"What makes you think I care enough for your father to do that?"

"You don't but you care about this town. And you care about Henry. They all take his cue from David, he's the one giving pep talks around here. And unless you are willing to do that in the future... I think you need him. We all do." Regina smiled at Emma's logic, shaking her head.

"You could talk an eskimo into buying a fridge, you know that, right?"

"I think they're called Inuit," Emma corrected and grinned at the other woman.

"Of course. Well, is there something else I can do for you?"

"Do you know of a place where I can live?" One of Regina's eyebrows shot up in question. "When I'm ready to leave here. I don't think I should move back in with my parents and... I don't know where to go," she confessed with a sad face. Regina seemed to struggle with herself, her eyes darted through the room for awhile until they settled back on Emma.

"I'm sure I could find something... a house? Or an apartment?"

"Whatever I can get for the salary of a sheriff," Emma said.

"Do you think you can... go back to work? With your leg?"

"Probably not right away," the blonde mused, locking her eyes with Regina's. The dark-haired woman nodded, seemingly thinking about a solution to this problem.

"That's okay. You were injured in the line of duty and... I see that you get paid for the last month. I'll find something to live for you... and Henry?" She asked what had just dawned on her.

"If you wouldn't mind... I think Henry should stay here, at least until I get around a little better. I mean, I can come and see him, right?"

"Of course," Regina agreed eagerly. Her eyes grew misty but she seemed determined not to cry. She set her jaw. Emma squeezed her hand and Regina looked down at them thoughtfully. "Thank you," she said very quietly.

"You're his mother, one of his mothers. I don't want us fighting anymore who has more right to him and where he's going to live. We can figure something out together," Emma promised. Regina nodded.

"He'll want to have a say in, though," she said.

"He wouldn't be our son if he didn't." They laughed at this, just a short one.

"I tried to... find Rumple and Hook. I couldn't. I can't tell if they're alive or dead. There's no way to open a portal...," Regina then said. She seemed sad and a little frantic about the limitations of her magic.

"You'll figure it out," Emma tried to reassure her.

"I'm not sure I can do it alone."

"Then we'll do it together... when I'm up to it," Emma said.

"You need your strength to heal, Emma. You shouldn't do any magic for the next... six months at least. It's too draining."

"Maybe you can find something in Gold's shop to help you? Or among Cora's things?"

Regina smiled self-depracatingly.

"I haven't even thought about that. It's kind of new to me to want to help people."

"That's what heroes do," Emma said.

"I'm not a hero, Emma. I'm the villain," Regina gave back. She rose from her chair and then surprised both of them by leaning over the other woman and kissing her on the forehead.

Emma reached up, cupped her cheek and pulled Regina's face down until their lips met in a move that was even more unexpected. She held Regina's face for breathless seconds and when she let go and they parted, she said:

"You are my hero, Regina."


End file.
